Tigers, Phillies Interested In Eddie Bonine

Having just hit free agency for the first time, Eddie Bonine is drawing interest from the Tigers and Phillies, tweets Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. Both clubs would be interested in bringing Bonine on board on a minor league deal, according to Morosi. The right-hander became a free agent earlier this week, after being outrighted by the Tigers.

Bonine, 29, has seen big league playing time in each of the last three seasons in Detroit. He received his most significant action in 2010, appearing in 47 games and posting a 4.63 ERA. The righty doesn't have dominant stuff, recording just 26 strikeouts in 68 innings in 2010, but he has exhibited good control throughout his career (2.7 BB/9).

Great guy…One of the nicest players I’ve seen. I hope he finds a good place to pitch. I could see him succeeding in Philadelphia…He’d do a really good job of soaking up the 3-6 innings of Kyle Kendricks bad starts…

I wouldn’t mind Bonine on a minor league deal. He could eat some innings for the pen towards the end of the year. The only way this could go bad is if they use him in the pen for the entire year, thinking that this will solve our bullpen problems.

If the Phillies signed Eddie Bonine, he’d be sent to AAA, and most likely, would stay there (albeit a September callup.) Not only do they have David Herndon already in their system, but they have guys like Scott Mathieson, Vance Worley, Mike Zagurski, and BJ Rosenberg, that can step up to the MLB club and be just as, if not more, effective.

I was surprised by this move, and I hope the Tigers can retain him, if possible. Like mentioned above, he was great during the first half of the season out of relief, but like the rest of the Tigers pen, he had a disappointing second half. I viewed him as somewhat similar to Zach Minor, though he may not be retained because of being injured all of 2010.